The annual Mid-Atlantic Leather contest and weekend was held at the Hyatt Regency in Washington DC, January 11-13. This was one weekend earlier as the Presidential Inauguration will be populating the city over Martin Luther King Weekend.

I shared a room this year at the host hotel and enjoyed the convenience of poping in and out of my room with as much or as little clothing. Temperatures were signigicantly warmer than 2012 but not warm by any means.

Lots of great men in attendance and a small contingent of women as well. This weekend is not as big as IML which seems to put a more intimate feel over the weekend. It’s more about real men in real gear with little to no attitude about the diversity of gear displays. So in addition to Leather you would see rubber, neoprene, sports gear, uniforms and even some furries!

I served as Judges’ boy this year for a second time as there wasn’t a “new American Leatherboy”, but looks like future American Leatherboys will be asked to serve as Judges’ boy. This is how Leather connects us as family. We celebrate across the USA at various times of the year which, for me makes life wonderful all year long. I get connect with Leather family and take in the local offerings.

I made one trip to the Postal Museum on the day of my departure. Always good to get in some time away from the conference itinerary. Cool history of the postal service, mail delivery methods come and gone to present and I even found a dog story! Owney was found and adopted by a postal carrier after a mail bag fell from to the ground, Owney jumped and stayed with bag and the carrier returned to retrieve the bag later that day. Owney became famous and collected “tags” from all over the country.